Of course Bernie Sanders wants to blow the system up, it is the same system by the way that has allowed him to sit on his ass up in Washington for thirty years and accomplish nothing of note. For all our lives black people have been told that in order to change the system you must do it from the inside, which is what President Obama has done. And now here comes Bernie Sanders preaching revolution, President Obama didn’t need a revolution to bring about Obamacare, he didn’t need a revolution to get Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions and give up its nuclear material. President Obama didn’t need a revolution to end DADT and to usher in marriage equality, nor did he need a revolution to change our disastrous policy against Cuba. I don’t recall any speech that President Obama has made that he has used the word “revolution.” So now you can throw the phrase “revolution” onto the same pile of trash that “make America great again” rests on.

Thanks folks. Tuesday night’s always find me playing catch up. I’m gone most of the day and usually don’t have much time to even lurk. Right now, I’m going back and forth on this thread and the last one.

Iowa did not broaden Bernie Sanders’ narrow appeal. It confirmed it. Sanders’ support is intense but narrow, and he remains incapable of building the type of broad coalition Barack Obama did in 2008. Sanders is stuck with adoring support among largely white and male populations – typically a strength of the Republicans whereas the only majority in the Democratic party is formed by women. Sanders’ support is intense among white-privileged college students, who, well-intentioned as they may be, lack the experiences that force black and brown kids to grow up quickly and either avoid or are largely unaware of the full scale of work it takes to actually make progress towards the political goals they espouse.

The United States State Department on Monday, February 1, knocked down an Indian newspaper report that the Obama administration is considering a re-merger of the India and Pakistan desks and dismissed the rumour that the office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan would either be scrapped or absorbed into the South Asian and Central Affairs Bureau headed by Assistant Secretary Nisha Desai Biswal.

Both senior administration officials and diplomatic observers, including several erstwhile State Department and National Security Council officials, ridiculed the contention in the report that even if there is such a merger, it would return US policy to a re-hyphenation vis-a-vis India and Pakistan, saying “it went out the door” decades ago with the demise of the Cold War.

At the daily noon briefing, State Department spokesman John Kirby asked if Secretary of State John F Kerry was considering wrapping up the SRAP office, said, “I know of no such plans to do so.”

When asked if he would “take the question” meaning if he would check and provide a more detailed or specific answer, Kirby, bristled and said, “No, I am not going to take the question,” and reiterated, “I know of no such plans to do so.”

When the reporter persisted and asked, if that meant “there is no plan to merge SCA,” Kirby shot back, “That’s what I just said.”

This one should be very interesting – especially if people forget that PBO has no more care to give. I believe that if he has something to say that will put Uncle Ben in his place at the prayer breakfast, then I trust my President will say it in such a way that Ole Bennie boy won’t feel the pain till he’s in his car on the way home.

Little Eddie has had absolutely nothing to say about the GOP Iowa Caucus results or their miserable candidates – but he’s busy spreading lies about HRC’s Iowa win…stuff pulled from a satire website. Snowfake with all his fake followers and fake number of retweets & likes….

Sadly – BOTH major political parties in Australia endorsed this policy. There are many Trump supporters living down under. It is horrifying. I am glad there was one sane member of the high court – but not enough.

Swinging by one last time this evening and saw this topic again … are most people up in arms in your country about it? Hard to get the images out of one’s mind, when you hear about it. Cruel and inhumane.

For too many people – out of sight – out of mind. some of the comments on discussion threads read like the worst of Trump supporters. We lived until 1970 with a “white Australia Policy” – only immigrants with european background accepted. It will take another generation to get this one sorted. Mindboggling how some think people should be treated

Behind (as usual), but don’t get why Australian voters are so anti-immigrants arriving by boat.

You’re blessed with a sparsely populated, enormous country — would seem to be room for desperate refugees without impacting current Australian residents’ lives.

From a southwestern US POV, I understand the source of the anger some Arizonans/New Mexicans direct toward “hordes” of immigrants at our southern border — but these undocumented migrants arrived by land, didn’t risk life, limb and future generations over treacherous seas.

You may have brought this to Chips’ attention (again, hopelessly behind), but was so impressed by Stan Grant’s eloquence and deep baritone. Reminds me of a new Barack Obama (with a plummier accent, LOL).

Hope more people outside of Australia view this video, and that President Obama and he get together (perhaps after Jan 2017):

Powerful speech by Australian journalist Stan Grant, who is of Aboriginal ancestry, on racism:https://t.co/dIbuw3xe2f

There was a wonderful program with Stan Grant that I watched a couple of days ago. We have a loooong way to go. See my reply to JoB.

Just to mention – most of those wide open spaces are desert. Over 90% of the population lives on the coastal strip. Most immigrants want to live in the cities. In past times when governments funded University places, many graduates had to do “country service” in return for their funding. Most returned to the cities / coast as quickly as they could.

Mining companies used to build towns around their rock deposits – brought family and amenities to outback places. Now they just fly in/fly out – total disconnect between life and work.

I keep reading about this record turnout in Iowa – yet I was sure amk said 2008 was much larger for the dems. So I went looking and found this delightful piece of nonsense

“early Tuesday morning, the Iowa Democratic Party announced that 171,109 Iowans participated in its caucuses. That’s a fall from 2008, which saw 239,000 vote in the Democratic caucuses throughout the state. 2016, however, is a dramatic improvement on 2012, when numbers dwindled to 25,000.”

No mention of the fact that there was no-one viable running against PBO for the democrats in 2012 – middle of winter – why would you bother to go out to caucus for someone who is going to be elected unapposed. But gosh – a MUCH bigger turnout than Obama got in 2012. smh